Children in a southern Russian village had the ultimate wildlife encounter when they found a lion cub and, naturally, took it to school.

The cat is a 5-month-old cub who had escaped from a car on the way to a zoo in Dagestan in the North Caucasus. The kids came upon him in the grasslands of the Rostov region and brought the lion to their teacher, who put it in the school gym.

As the children waited for the police, they petted and played with cub. One boy even tried to ride the animal like a stick horse—poor puss! The lion was named Barsik—a common kitty name in Russia, which means “little leopard.”